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Packing for Lengthy Holidays

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Packing for Lengthy Holidays

by Lorry Patton

The following is a list of preparation tips when going away on a lengthy trip.

BILLS

With today's electronic banking and the internet, paying bills from anywhere is possible as long as you have money in a bank. Deposits from pensions, employers, or dividents, can be made directly into your account.

The old-fashioned way is to send post-dated checks to your creditors with fixed payments like mortgages and car loans or have them automatically removed from your bank account.

You can send your Hydro account three months payments in advance and they will credit your account. For credit-card payments like Visa and Mastercard take with you pre-addressed envelopes and blank checks with the appropriate account numbers on them and the date the bills are due. A couple of weeks before the due date, call the creditors from where ever you are and ask them for the balance of your account or the minimum payment required. Fill out the rest of the check and drop it in a mailbox. You can pay your phone bill this way, too.

MAIL

If you must see your mail, and you will be in one place for more then two days, a family member can bundle up the letters and send it to you by overnight courier. If you want to stay in touch with your family, keep your telephone answering service on and tell your relatives to leave messages when necessary. Call home every day or two to retrieve and erase your messages. That way, if there is an emergency at home you will know about it.

SECURITY

For security reasons, arrange for someone to cut the grass and clean up the yard, and to pick up newspapers and flyers at your home so that they don't accumulate at your door. Install night lights and put a radio and a hall light on a timer. Have someone come in to water the plants and to close and open curtains daily. Let your neighbors know you will be away and notify your local police station, too. Be aware that most home insurance policies are not valid if you don't have someone watching your home while you are away.

EMERGENCIES

Don't leave home without the following:

• Extra prescriptions for medicine and eyeglasses and a list of allergies or medical alerts
• Travel Insurance
• Picture ID
• Citizenship Proof
• Phone numbers to Next of Kin
• Daily Journal
• Other packing items found under General Travel Tips (packing) and General Travel Tips (Health & Safety) depend on when, where and what mode of transportation you'll be using.